Pre-Performance Jitters or Performance Anxiety?
There is a kind of nervous energy that tells us something matters. A flutter in the stomach, a quicker heartbeat or a sudden awareness of every person in the room can all be part of preparing to perform.
But sometimes nerves begin to feel less like energy and more like a barrier. They affect how we prepare, how freely we use our voice and whether we allow ourselves to step towards the opportunities we say we want.
This is where it can be useful to distinguish ordinary nerves from performance anxiety.
I could talk about this for days because it is both professional and personal for me.
I remember exactly how I felt in this photo, as though it were yesterday. I was standing in the wings waiting for my entrance, quite literally praying that my voice would respond as it had in rehearsals. Praying that my fight-or-flight response would not take over and prevent me from being present, telling the story and sharing all the work that had brought me to that moment. Before losing my voice, I sang with abandon. I trusted it completely. Why wouldn’t I? It had never given me a reason not to. Until one day, I lost it entirely.
Chronic acid reflux led to years of intermittent voice loss. During that time, I continued attending major auditions, sometimes experiencing that vocal inconsistency in front of highly influential panels. Auditioning had once been something I genuinely enjoyed. Now, I approached it with dread.
Eventually, I rebuilt my voice. It became healthy and capable again, but my trust in it did not return at the same pace. Ordinary pre-performance nerves began to carry a different weight. Every small inconsistency felt like a warning that it could all happen again.
What started as nerves gradually became weeks of sleepless nights, endless rumination and constant monitoring of every tiny change in my voice. It took me a long time to recognise that I was struggling and that my voice had recovered long before my sense of safety in it did.
I share this experience so the singers I work with know that they are not alone and that these responses are nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, a lot of the most "successful" performers I work with have had to battle their own fears and anxiety. Being able to talk honestly about how we feel can help us recognise patterns earlier and make more supportive choices in our training. It can also help us recognise when something needs care beyond the coaching room and find the right professional support before fear becomes deeply ingrained.
It's crazy how life works, this challenging experience has ultimately led me to the beautiful work I feel so passionate about now: creating a safe, supportive environment where performers can explore the relationship between their mind, body and voice with someone who understands not only the technical demands of performing, but the emotional weight they can carry.
Are nerves and performance anxiety the same thing?
Not quite.
Nerves are a normal response to doing something exposed, meaningful or uncertain. They may bring butterflies, alertness and a little extra adrenaline, but they can exist alongside excitement. They often settle once the audition, recording session or performance begins.
Performance anxiety tends to interfere more significantly. It may begin long before the event, feel difficult to regulate or change the way somebody prepares, performs and recovers afterwards. For some performers it means racing thoughts or a fear of making mistakes. For others it looks like avoidance, overpreparation or physical symptoms that make precise vocal work feel much harder.
Research into music performance anxiety has produced very different estimates depending on how it is defined and who is studied. One systematic review found prevalence figures ranging from 16.5% to 60%, which at least makes one thing clear: if you experience it, you are far from alone.
What can performance anxiety look like?
Performance anxiety is not always an obvious panic attack moments before going on stage. It can show up in the mind, the body, the voice and in everyday behaviour.
You might notice:
catastrophising about an audition before it has happened
negative self-talk or constant comparison
going blank on lyrics you know well
struggling to focus or make clear creative choices
procrastinating over self-tapes, emails or applications
avoiding opportunities, then feeling frustrated with yourself
rehearsing excessively because you never feel ready
difficulty sleeping before or after performing
replaying every perceived mistake afterwards
feeling unable to enjoy or celebrate a success
Physically, anxiety can involve a racing or pounding heart, shaking, sweating, nausea, dry mouth, dizziness, breathlessness and muscular tension. For singers, that may be felt as a tight jaw, raised shoulders, a held breath or a sense of constriction around the throat.
How might it affect the voice?
Singing asks for extraordinarily fine coordination. Breath, vocal fold vibration, resonance, articulation, hearing, movement and communication all need to work together in real time. When the nervous system perceives threat, even if that “threat” is an audition panel rather than physical danger, the body may prioritise protection over subtle coordination.
A singer might experience:
a dry mouth or the sensation of a lump in the throat
a breath that feels high, shallow or difficult to release
extra tension through the tongue, jaw, neck or shoulders
a pressed, breathy or unreliable onset
pitch instability, voice cracks or difficulty accessing part of the range
reduced stamina or dynamic control
vocal fatigue, huskiness or throat discomfort
These experiences are real, but they are not proof that anxiety is the only cause. Voice changes can have many technical, environmental and medical contributors. Your vocal coach can help with function and preparation, but persistent pain, hoarseness or loss of vocal ability should be assessed appropriately rather than simply labelled “anxiety”. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists advises seeing your GP if hoarseness lasts longer than three weeks.
The three questions I often ask in the studio
When somebody feels stuck, I often begin with three questions:
What is the vision or goal?
Where do you genuinely believe you deserve to be within the industry?
If the opportunity arrived tomorrow, could you not only audition in the way you want, but actually take on the role?
There are no “correct” answers. The purpose is to notice whether desire, self-belief and readiness are pointing in the same direction.
Somebody may desperately want a role but quietly believe they do not belong in the room. They may believe they deserve the opportunity but know they do not yet have the vocal stamina to sustain eight shows a week. They may be technically ready to audition but frightened by what booking the job would require of them emotionally, socially or professionally.
That gap does not automatically cause performance anxiety and it is not a diagnosis. It is simply valuable information. When the goal, the belief and the felt capacity to receive the opportunity are pulling in different directions, the conflict can sometimes be experienced through the body and voice.
Sometimes we fear success too
We speak often about fear of failure, but performers can also fear success.
Success can mean visibility. It can bring greater expectations, more responsibility and the possibility of having something new to lose. It may require us to leave behind a version of ourselves that feels familiar, even if that version is frustrated or unfulfilled.
This can create an uncomfortable contradiction: consciously wanting the opportunity while unconsciously trying to stay safe from everything it might change.
That does not make you lazy, ungrateful or unserious. It makes you human. But if fear repeatedly stops you from preparing, applying, auditioning or allowing yourself to be seen, it can rob you of the process of becoming. Sometimes we become so focused on whether we will be chosen that we lose our connection to the person and artist we are building along the way.
Control what is yours and release what is not
One of the hardest parts of a performing career is that preparation does not guarantee an outcome. You can deliver an excellent audition and still not be the missing piece of that particular casting puzzle.
That is why it helps to separate what is within your control from what is not.
You can influence:
how specifically you prepare for the task
how well you know the material
whether your warm-up supports the sounds you need to make
your sleep, nourishment and vocal pacing where circumstances allow
the way you speak to yourself before and after the event
whether you practise performing, rather than only practising privately
when you ask for technical, medical or psychological support
You cannot control:
who else is being considered
the panel’s existing idea of the role
your height, casting type or resemblance to another cast member
last-minute creative decisions
somebody else’s taste
whether you happen to be the missing piece that day
Preparation can help you meet an opportunity. Acceptance helps you survive the parts of the industry that preparation cannot control.
What might help?
There is no single routine that works for every performer, but these are useful places to begin:
1. Name what is happening
Try to move from “I am terrible under pressure” to something more precise: “My mouth becomes dry”, “I rush the opening phrase” or “I start imagining rejection three days before the audition”. A specific pattern is easier to work with than a global judgement about who you are.
2. Make preparation task-specific
Confidence rarely comes from doing more for the sake of it. It comes from knowing that your preparation reflects the actual demand. That might mean rehearsing your opening in one take, practising with the camera running, walking into the room before you feel completely settled or building the stamina the role genuinely requires.
3. Practise being observed
The first time your nervous system encounters the performance conditions should not be the audition itself. Build exposure gradually: sing for one trusted person, record a single take, share work in a small class, then increase the sense of consequence over time.
4. Build a repeatable pre-performance routine
A routine can provide familiarity when the outcome feels uncertain. Keep it simple enough to repeat in real life. It might include a short physical release, a task-specific vocal warm-up, a few moments of slow breathing and one clear artistic intention.
5. Focus on communication
Anxiety pulls attention inwards: How do I sound? What do they think? What if I crack? Artistry asks a different question: What am I trying to communicate? Returning to the lyric, scene partner, listener or story can interrupt some of that constant self-monitoring.
6. Get the right support
A vocal coach can help you clarify the technical demand, prepare efficiently and explore how tension is affecting vocal function. Performance anxiety that is persistent, debilitating or affecting life beyond performing may also deserve support from a GP, counsellor, psychotherapist or psychologist with an understanding of performers.
UK organisations including BAPAM, Help Musicians and Music Minds Matter provide guidance, support and signposting for people working in the performing arts. Music Minds Matter offers support to everyone working in music, on stage or behind the scenes.
A final thought
The goal is not necessarily to feel nothing.
You may still care deeply. Your heart may still beat faster and your body may still register the importance of the moment. The work is learning to recognise what the feeling means, support the system carrying it and stop treating every sign of activation as evidence that you are not ready.
You can prepare for the opportunity while accepting that you cannot control the outcome. You can build the voice, the stamina and the artistry while gently examining whether part of you is frightened to be heard.
That is delicate inner work, but it may be some of the most important work a performer does. You can download my free journal prompts to explore your own relationship with preparation, visibility, success and self-belief.
[Book an Initial Voice Assessment] if you would like to understand your current vocal demands and build a clear, individual plan for your voice.
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